Time of Fear
by MysticMew
Summary: My first fic ever written in English. I don't think it's that bad. Koushari and a little bit Taiora. Tai gets himself kidnaped and Izzy's up to comfort a distraught Kari. Please R & R, I really need it since it's my first English fic.


Time of Fear

Hi, folks!

This is my first English fanfic. So don't be too hard on me. This fic was originally written for the mailinglist [Kari_and_Izzy_Fans_Unite][1]. I recommend for all Koushari-fans AND especially good authors to subscribe and help this group out. They really need some "active" members.

I hope you all enjoy my little fic.

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Title: Time of Fear

Author: Matthias aka MysticMew

Pairing: Koushari (KarixIzzy), a little bit Taiora (TaixSora)

Rating: Dunno, am not good in rating and can't actually tell now

Summary: Tai gets captured and it's up to Kari, Izzy and Sora to rescue him

Spoilers: Episode 43 (or 97). If you haven't seen that... well, you can still read but probably don't really understand what's going on.

Copyright: Digimon and characters are not owned by me. The storyline of this fic is my own imagination. It is not allowed to post this fic somewhere else without my permission.

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Time of Fear

Chapter 1: Tears and loneliness

Cold...

Fear...

Cold fear. Yeah, that was good.

Tears. Oh right, we don't want to forget the tears. Do we? The little girl - ok, not so little anymore - was crying. She didn't even know when she started crying. It wouldn't stop. Not a moment, not a second. Her heart was held in an icy grip, waking every fear in her she knew of. Every nightmare, every demon hunting her in the past came back in these lonely moments, sucking on her fear, her grief and her loneliness.

Loneliness. That was right. She was alone, alone with her tears, alone with the letter in her hands whose words were piercing right through her heart.

Again, for the thousands time in what seemed like hours, perhaps even days she looked down on the letters written in bloody red. Not real blood sure, she knew that, she hoped it at least. The letters that made her cry again and again.

To The Yagamis (I'm using the Japanese name here)

We have your little boy. If you want to see him again follow the instructions below. Oh, and no police. Otherwise... You don't even want to know, do you?

(...)

After that came the instructions. She barely read them. They were not important in the moment. She cried... again. It just wasn't fair, was it? They weren't even rich. It must have been a mistake. But tell this to those... those... bastards.

Her parents weren't home and wouldn't be for a while and she didn't have their number of where they were staying - Tai did... Loneliness. Yeah, she felt lonely, more then ever. TK was out of town with Matt on one of his brothers gigs. Even Davis was not home. She couldn't remember there he was. Oh yeah, on a trip with Ken. She thought they were somewhere in Europe travelling through the Digi World...

There was no one she could talk to. No one to comfort her. Sure she already had sent a mail to her Digimon. But till she was here... That would take a while. Something hit her. Sora! Yeah, she deserved to know. Even if it was hard to talk about but she couldn't sit here the entire day and grief. After all she was a Digi-destined and had faced worse things. Including the capture of her own Digimon in the very beginning.

You should think rationally, the girl thought to herself. So a trembling hand reached out for the phone and almost missed it. She gathered her strength again and punched in the numbers. The phone was ringing. Once... twice... a third time... a fourth... Click. "This is the line of Takenuchi Sora. I'm not home at this time. If you want to leave a message..." She wanted to slam the receiver down. But she didn't. Quietly the girl waited and spoke something in the phone. Probably Sora would be home by evening.

After that she sat there again silently. Not moving, not speaking, not doing anything. Just alone again. Alone with her hurt heart and with the silent tears dropping to the ground and on the couch. She didn't care.

The minutes went by. Tick tack, the clock was ticking. Every sound hammering on her mind, shattering her heart even more then possibly. That wasn't helping. Not one bit. She had to do something. Talk to someone. Now, before it could torture her even more.

Determined she picked the phone up again and dialed a familiar number. The phone rang twice, before clicking.

"Izumi." A male voice said sounding somehow tired, maybe he worked to much again. She froze, suddenly not so brave anymore. "Hello?" She had to say something now or the chance would be gone. "I... Izzy..." Her voice cracked. With the exception of the previous call she hadn't spoken in hours. "Kari? Is that you?" Izzy sounded a little surprised. Ok, that was normal. She hold onto her last remaining strength and said, her voice barely more then a whisper: "Could you come over here, please?"

Chapter 2: Comfort

Izzy sighed as he put down the phone and just wondered how his day could have gotten even more worse by a simple phone call. He just stood there for a few minutes thinking. "Could you come over here, please?" That was all she had said. But it had expressed so much more and still left many questions.

He might have thought that he had a bad day until now. No, not exactly a bad day. A hard day. Ever since the last crisis in the Digi World was over, he had been helping Gennai and his team to create something similar to a connection, a bond between the human and the Digital World. Mostly he was off right after school and came back late at night making his homework during the rare quiet hours of work... They paid him, sure, and he liked doing it, sure, but nevertheless it was hard work.

Today he had come home early because a meeting with some government officials was delayed. The cause? God knows, they didn't... So Izzy was just planning to take a relaxing shower and enjoying his day off cause there wasn't a better thing to do. Then the phone rang and the day went really bad.

He did hear it clearly in her voice. Damn, a complete fool and daydreamer could have heard it. The pain, the shed tears. The cause was not clear to him, but he suspected he would find out soon enough. It really had surprised Izzy that she had called HIM and somehow it made him feel good. Well, he knew why it did, but he wasn't going to admit that. Otherwise her parents were out of town, Sora probably wasn't home, TK was with his brother and Davis on his "trip" with Ken...

So who to turn to? Not that he didn't like the attention but... Yolei? He didn't know where she was. Joe? You never knew if he was home or not. Mimi was still over in the US. Cody? They weren't that close. Tai? Then it hit him like a soccer ball right in the face. It hit him with an intensity that left him breathless for... well, a couple of seconds. (We don't wantto sound overdramatic, do we?) Something has happened to Tai! It must be. Otherwise he would be the first person for Kari to turn to. After all he was his brother and should be there for her. That's right, he should be home by now from training. Even if he was late. And if he was not that meant...

Mrs. Izumi, who just happened to come in at that moment, stared at the front door for a couple of minutes with a blank and somehow dumbfounded look on her face. She really didn't thought it was possible for a human being to be that fast. At least not after a hard and frustrating school and work day... (ok, now I am overdramatic)

Izzy didn't even realized he was out until he found himself running down the street to the Yagamis home at light speed. He couldn't remember putting on his jacket and shoes but somehow he did. None of that mattered to him. What mattered to him was Kari now. Izzy was fearing the worst for Tai and he know exactly how fragile and emotionally Kari could be.

The door burst open when Izzy entered the Yagami household. It didn't even came to his mind why the door was slightly open. His eyes scanned the room and found it empty except for the tale-tell signs of crying on the couch and floor.

It was then when he heard soft crying from one of the rooms. Kari's room. Quickly he crossed the distance between the front door and there. At the moment he stood before the door Izzy realized he wouldn't help the situation by acting frantically. So he tried calming down and knocked softly on the door. The crying didn't stop. He knocked again. Again no answer. Then he heard a muffled: "Come in" that didn't sound like Kari at all.

Quietly he opened the door and was momentarily stunned by the scene in front of his eyes. There curled up on the covers of her bed lay Kari silently weeping, giving every now and then some noise away. Beside her sat Gatomon trying desperately to comfort her, not with much success, the genius of the Digi-destined noticed. When he entered the small cat-like Digimon looked up with a unspoken plea in her eyes. She didn't seem to know what she could or should do anymore.

Izzy walked over to them and sat on the edge of a bed watching the broken girl for one or two moments. His decision was made quickly. For some he might only be the computer genius, the intelligent boy that buried himself in his work and behind his computer screen. That might be true - more than three years ago. Before he ended up in the Digi World. That changed him, changed them all. Still parts of the personality remained just more mature, more the positive side.

At that moment the intelligent boy that a while ago was not more then the little shy computer geek didn't care what people would think. Well, besides Gatomon there wasn't anyone here. Without a word he gathered the crying girl in his arms just holding her, rocking her, even rubbing her back a little. For seconds, minutes... He didn't even noticed when Gatomon slipped out of the door. He was just trying to ease her pain. A pain he didn't even know the exact cause of. A pain he couldn't make go away. Even if he wished he could. Oh, how much he wished he could.

Gatomon looked up at Izzy as he entered the living room and shot him a questioning glance. "She's sleeping now." The Digimon looked surprised but let it go. "She didn't speak though", he added. Gatomon jumped of the couch walking over to him and handing him a piece of paper. A letter he noticed. A letter with bloody red printing or better writing. Izzy froze and read the first lines. Then he read them again. After a third time he just walked over to a chair and sat down. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly - depends on your point of view - Gatomon jumped up to him and set in his lap. They just looked at each other and thought the exact same thing. How could that have happened?

It was that moment Sora decided to come rushing through the door.

Chapter 3: Revelations and the first plans

"Hello, Sora", Izzy said as the so called mother figure of the older Digi-destined came in to the room, looking frantically left and right, her eyes scanning the room before settling on the boy and the Digimon. She raised an eyebrow questionably at the scene but only shrugged after a moment.

Sora had come home late from training. That really had made her sick since she was supposed to meet Tai after that and he wanted to talk about something important. He hadn't been at the appointed destination anymore when she arrived. Sora had not blamed him. After getting home she found a message on the phone. First she had thought it was Tai asking why she hadn't showed up. But it was not Tai, it was Kari. And her few words had changed everything.

"Kari is sleeping now", Izzy explained. Sora nodded and then asked: "What happened? I got a call from her saying something about Tai was wrong and she needed someone to talk. From her sound I figured it couldn't be a minor problem." Izzy motioned for her to sit. "You better sit down for this." Now Sora knew something was definitely wrong and it was about Tai. She sat down in a chair opposite from Izzy and Gatomon. Without a further word the boy handed her a piece of paper.

Sora went from disbelief to shock and finally denial mode. "That... that... That can't be true. That's just some stupid joke or something like that. I mean that IS stupid. Why should someone kidnap Tai? I mean his family isn't even rich or something. That's just... I don't know but... It can't be true! It can't be!" She was practically screaming the last phrases. Izzy has never or better only very few times saw the mostly calm and reasonable girl that distraught. It was a highly rare thing that Sora was overreacting. But Izzy had other priorities that wouldn't mix with a screaming Sora.

"Shut up, Sora." Surprised Sora's head shot up and she glared at Izzy not trusting hear ears. Izzy was the last one to raise his voice or being rude and only if he was extremely annoyed. His voice dropped abruptly to a near whisper within his next words. "You don't want to wake Kari, do you?" Sora opened her mouth a sharp response already on her lips but closed it immediately. Everything just went away when she realized she was hysterical. Everything just dimmed down to a dull pain that had left her heart in pieces.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Izzy. I think I lost it, huh?" Izzy just smiled sadly. He could not and would never really blame her for her behavior. It was only logical and the only thing that made him snap at Sora was to save Kari some peace. He had a feeling she would need it in the next few days. "I understand, Sora and I don't blame you. It's hard, right. But someone here has to keep a cool head. And it looks like that we're the oldest available members of our groups. So try being calm for Kari and for Tai."

The fact that Izzy had to control himself hard made Sora wonder there he got this strength and why this seemed to shake him up the same way like her. Not that she wanted to question his close friendship with Tai. But it was rare for him to show such strong feelings - even suppressed.

"What do we do now?" she asked at last. Izzy sighed and looked up at the ceiling for once in his life he was at a loss of answers. They had faced so many dreadful and dangerous situations but nothing had prepared them for that. "i don't know..." Sora frowned. "I can only say that. It's obvious not a joke but we will know that in the morning at last. The problem remains though. What can we do?" In his head flow thousand possibilities and consequences of this. "Is someone else here that could help at the moment?"

Sora thought for a moment. "Yolei is on vacation with her family. Joe is somewhere with his brother I think... Cody should still be here although he wanted to be on a vacation with his parents too."

"Call him. If... that is ok with you?" Sora nodded slowly. She didn't feel like speaking with someone at the moment but Izzys words had brought her back to reality. She had a responsibility for both Tai and Kari, she had to be strong, even if it hurts.

"Sure. What do you do?" Izzy got up and Gatomon jumped down hurrying in the direction of Kari's room. "I go home and get my laptop. When I call our and Cody's Digimon, just to play it safe." Sora nodded again and then remembered something. "Call Agumon too."

"I will."

"No, I'm sorry but Cody isn't home now…" he heard her mother say on the phone. "Tadaima! (I'm home)" he called out loud to make sure he was noticed and then went in the living room. "Oh, he just came in. Cody, could you…" The youngest Digi-destined grabbed the phone before his mother could finish. "Hello? Who… Sora? Why did you… What? Sure, I come. No, it's no big deal. We're a team. Yeah, thanks for calling, I'm right over." He put the phone slowly down as the new information sank in. This had really blown him of his feet. Things like that were extremely against his moral code. Not only that given to him through his Kendo sessions with his Grandfather but also his personal ethics.

"What is it, Cody?" His mother was worried. The emotional change in the young boy had been shown clearly in his face. "I skip dinner. I'm going over to Kari's." Now she was clearly confused. "Why that? You don't wanna tell me it's another crisis." Cody was already half way through the door when answering. "Not what you think… Tai has been kidnapped."

"Oh…" Cody's mother was left with a stunned expression on her face.

Chapter 4: Plans

Sure it would have been odd to see a fourteen year old boy walking through the streets of Odaiba carrying a small bag with a laptop on top and a group of four little monsters behind and next to him. It would have been odd... a few months ago. Now the only thing that was odd was the boy and the four Digimon were walking straight to their location without even noticing people greeting, talking and so on.

There was a very - and very is an understatement - worried lizard-like orange Digimon, an equally quiet bird-like pinkish Digimon that tried her best to cheer up the previous one. Next to the boy walked a Digimon with a shell (for lack of better description), quietly and just as worried as the rest. On the other side of the boy flew a bug-like Digimon talking every once in a while but eventually gave up because it didn't get much response - what actually WAS a rare thing for the Digimon.

"How is she?" Izzy asked whispering while coming in the room. He didn't get a response so he looked closer and saw Kari was still asleep. There was a little bit of sweat on her forehead but he hadn't really expected she would sleep totally peaceful. A dreamless sleep would have been the best but... that was Kari we were taking about and Kari and dreams... well, you get the picture. By her feet looking exhausted, mostly from worry, Gatomon was curled up, where she had drifted into a somewhere near serene sleep.

They hadn't talked much after he had come back with Digimon in tow. Cody had been there already. All of them discussed the letter a little - with not much outcome. Finally he had ended the discussion and suggested to call it a night. They eat some of the things Izzy's mother had given him. Further discussions would have been useless for now. All of them needed some sleep and probably they could think more clearly tomorrow.

"I see." He smiled down at the - as at appeared to outsiders - peaceful sleeping couple of Digi-destined and Digimon. We'll get through this. I promise.Why he did, he couldn't explain to himself afterwards but at that moment it seemed the right thing for him to do. So he bent down and softly kissed Kari's forehead. When with one last look at the girl Izzy quietly slipped out of the room and closed the door.

"We have to save him", Sora said, determination in her voice. "But we can't just rush in there. Where ever 'there' is? We already discussed that", replied Cody stubborn. "Why not? Surely our Digimon can take a bunch of kidnapers!" was the direct answer. Agumon felt questioned and put in: "Sure we can. I could beat them alone." Aramdillomon looked up at his partner and then at Agumon. "And maybe killing Tai in the process cause one of them is going berserk?" Agumon was quiet. Sora started to protest but Cody interrupted her before even starting. "Armadillomon is right, Do you want to risk Tai's life by rushing things?" This made Sora pretty angry. "If we don't. than they kill him anyway. So? What is your great plan, Mr. I-know-it-all?" The sarcasm in her voice was clearly and Cody being Cody couldn't just let that go. "I have no idea. But we could at least try finding another solution!"

"What's with the money. Can't we just pay them?" asked Biyomon seemingly not aware of he high ransom. Cody just gave her a look. "60 million (yen that would be around 1 million in DM, don't know the exact dollar value)? Not even Mimi's family could afford that." Biyomon went quiet and stayed so. But that got to Sora again. "That's no need to be so harsh!"

This was just another one. It was early evening the next day after the discovery of Tai being kidnapped. All except Cody had slept at the Yagamis house. After a short night of sleep they had discussed the matter on hand throughout the day only pausing for lunch. And they weren't even one bit further as they had been after one hour. It was clearly visible that the small group lacked a leader. Unfortunately they were just planning to rescue their leader...

Izzy watched Kari honestly worried. She had been quiet most of the day. Only here and there some comments. He had watched her closely and knew what this was doing to her. Kari was torn exactly between what both Cody and Sora were saying. She knew that one wrong step, one too fast move could get her brother killed but she also knew that waiting would be risky too, especially when there seemed to be no other solution. And now again as the two "head discussers" were that lost into their argument that they didn't even notice they were getting of topic and making it personal, she just couldn't hold it anymore.

She cried - again. Silently so that nobody noticed. Well, at least not the arguers and Tentomon who effortlessly tried to calm them down. But Gatomon noticed of course and Izzy sitting next to her on the couch did too. Without thinking he enveloped her in an embrace, softly holding her.

The argument has gotten back to the topic - surprisingly. "We can't call the police, Cody. That would be dumber than fighting them directly. As soon as they see police Tai's as good as dead. We can't risk that", Sora stated and Izzy had to agree on her with that. Kari had began shaking at Sora's last words and her tears were floating harder. "And confront them openly without any plan is better?" Cody countered. Gently Izzy rubbed Kari's back trying to calm her. He knew that had to end now or she would be left as an emotional wrack - again. "I didn't say that we should do it without planning. If you would let me finish..."

"SILENCE! BOTH OF YOU!" That did the trick. All heads turned to Izzy. In any other situation he would have been embarrassed by the attention. But right now he was just too angry with his friends for their lack of control that he was pleased to get their undivided attention.

He didn't say anything just glared at them and looked down at Kari. Her soft crying was the only sound in the room and it hit both Sora and Cody, hit them hard. Guilt was building quickly in them and they looked down ashamed while realizing what they had done.

"Listen", Izzy begun after Kari once again regained her composure - well sort of - and sitting quietly next to Izzy, slightly leaning against him. "No matter what, there will be a risk whatever we do. Normally I would agree with Cody in waiting and planning a bit more but time isn't on our side. So that is what we do. We all seem to agree that the whole thing must be a mistake. The kidnaper probably don't know they have a Digi-destined and that might be our chance." Sora wasn't satisfied, she was too guilty to be, and Cody didn't complain about it either. "We meet tomorrow again and plan what exactly we do. You better get home now, sleep and save your energy."

"Someone has to stay with..." Sora started but Izzy cut her off. "I will. Now go." And that was the last word and all of them knew that. Izzy had obviously taken charge and he wouldn't let anymore arguments rise now.

"Is that okay with you?" Now that they were alone Izzy lowered the mask of the determined leader a little. Tai was Kari's brother after all and he didn't want to force her into something she didn't want to. Kari nodded. It was barely a nod more a slight head movement but it was enough for him. "Well. I have to track down Tai's exact location then. I'm on the couch if you need something." He turned to go but Kari caught his hand. "Wait. Sit down please."

He did as asked and Kari lay down on her bed staring at the ceiling. Izzy just looked at her and it was enough to build the rage inside of him. His rage against the people doing that. He hated to see her like that, so depressed and helpless. They had fought Evil Digimon again and again, she had even been to the world of darkness twice and came back stronger than before. But this was harder because it was personal. It was her family. And knowing Tai was in such great danger broke her more than every big evil could do.

"Thank you. I know I'm acting selfish. I should be tougher. I know I'm egoistic. See I'm already talking like it." He brought his head in a position he could directly look in her eyes. "That's not right. It's quite normal to react like that. I don't have any siblings but if something would happen to my parents... You understand what I mean, right?" She smiled. She really smiled! And that alone was enough to make him happy and raise his own hopes and confidence. It was the first smile in nearly two days.

Izzy sat there a little longer until he was sure she had drifted into sleep. When just like yesterday he got up and placing a little kiss on her forehead. But today was different. He was startled to find Kari's arms around his neck the next moment and himself being pulled down. Before he could react Kari had captured his lips with her own. It sent an electric shock strong like a thunderbolt through their entire bodies. The moment was short but enough to break the well sealed bottles inside of them and let their emotions came out.

Kari was clearly surprised and a little bit hurt when Izzy broke the kiss and jerked back looking at her in disbelief. "Izzy, I..." Before she could finished he had turned around and was out of the room leaving a confused Kari behind. She really had thought she had interpreted his actions correct...

Outside Izzy was leaning with his back against the wall trying to control his breathing and his emotions. He knew running probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but he really needed to think about this. Yeah, thinking was good. He could think while working. With that he walked into the living room, got his laptop and started typing, totally ignoring Tentomon's questions.

Chapter 5: And Action

Birdramon swooped gracefully through the night sky. That actually was the hardest part after planning - waiting. They all had agreed to wait till the sun had set. Most of their Digimon were flying-types and could be spotted easily at day. Izzy was quick finding Tai's location and now they were on their way to a lonely area of the harbor. That's where his digivice signal came from.

"You sure, they haven't found it?" asked Cody over the wind. That was the worst possibility. If the kidnapers had found Tais Digivice and threw it away... No, she should not think about this. "We just have to try. After all the area makes perfect sense" was Izzy's answer. They worried her. Kari and Izzy she meant. Throughout the day they both weren't really quiet anymore - in fact Kari had been more determined - but they seemed avoiding each other. Not only with contact but with every single glance... Izzy seemed deeply into thought and sometimes looked a little bit confused. Kari on the other hand even looked guilty for some reason that she couldn't think of. Anyways that had to wait for after they had rescued Tai - if they had rescued Tai.

"Ok, I think that's close enough", Kari suddenly spoke. Sora looked down and nodded. "Yeah. You can land here, Birdramon." So she did and all except Sora jumped of the huge Bird Digimon.

Cody and Armadillomon walked over to the canal leading directly to the harbor. "Do we still go with the plan?" Nobody spoke against it. "Just remember to not attack before any unexpected problems occur. If all goes well, there shouldn't be any", Izzy reminded the young boy. "When has anything ever gone well?" Tentomon throw in but was ignored. That wasn't the time for negative thoughts.

Without further words Cody held out his Digivice. "Digi Armor Energize!"

"ARMADILLOMON ARMOR-DIGIVOLVE TO... SUBMARIMON 'THE RELIABLE GUARDIAN OF THE SEAS'!" The next second they were in the water and quickly swimming out of view. "Well our turn then. Good luck", Sora said and Birdramon prepared to take of. "Try and fly some circles, we won't be that fast on the ground", Izzy shouted up to her when she was descending.

Kari and Izzy walked in silence next to each other. If you could fly between them, you would be able to feel the tension in the air. Both were thinking about the same thing and both wanted to talk about but nobody was able to begin.

Their Digimon and Agumon walked/flew a little bit behind, giving them time to themselves. Both could tell there was something to clear up and knew now would be the best time. Eventually both, Kari and Izzy started to speak up. "LookIzzyKariI'maboutsorrywhatifhappendIyesterdaymisinterpretedIyou..." they said at the same time, when stopped and looked at each other. Kari giggled a little and Izzy just smiled. "You first", Izzy offered. Kari nodded. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was a little bit shaken up and haven't seen clearly. That's why I misinterpreted what you did for me and..." He held up a hand and stopped her, shaking his head slowly. "No, Kari. You didn't misinterpreted anything. I don't really know what I am exactly feeling for you. Plus I don't want to take advantage of the situation. You are probably not the most emotional stable person at the moment no offense... I just think we should wait until this is over and then look at what we have... or could have."

Kari thought about that and couldn't find anything to argue. She just laughed a little. "You know that was really kind of you. Really, I think you could actually rival Ken for his crest..." Izzy joined into the laughter and it relaxed both of them and blew the rest of the tension away. Kari went serious again for a short time. "But you just reminded me why I like you so much." He gave her and questioning and awaiting look. "You are seeing everything so logical but at the same time not to strict like Cody sometimes." He took the compliment without saying anything but it felt good getting it - especially from Kari. 

A few minutes later in now comfortable silence they arrived at the docks. "Well, here we are. You ready for action?" Kari announced speaking to no one in particular while looking at Izzy. He looked back and grinned a little. "Sure. Time for the first act in today's Shakespear Drama." Kari had to quickly clasp a hand over her mouth to not burst out laughing loud. "Izzy... that was a good one. But I prefer the plays with a Happy End." Izzy nodded, when spotted something or better someone. "I think we get company."

Meanwhile up in the air Sora was watching Kari, Izzy and the three Digimon approach their destination. Kari laughed about something and it seemed whatever problem where had been was now solved. When she noticed the two persons coming out of the smaller buildings facing her friends.

"Ok, Birdramon. Now's the perfect moment. Tai should still be in there." Sora looked at her digivice and found her statement confirmed. "We are getting in at the back, while the others keep the kidnapers busy."

"All right, Sora. I'm landing at the back."

After landing right in front of the back door of the building Birdramon de-digivolved into Biyomon and they went it. The atmosphere wasn't the nicest but not to uncomfortable. A little bit cold and wet, still nothing she couldn't handle. The light was dim and it was hard to see something. Her digivice suddenly glowed red and at the end of the hall a soft orange glow responded and Sora immediately knew it was Tai's.

Exited and not think she rushed down the hall without really looking at her surroundings. She found Tai all tied up but wide awake and aware of her presence. Sora just wanted to go down, hug him and never let go. But his safety was the first priority and so got down and she and Biyomon just wanted to begin cutting the ropes than Tai spoke. "Sora... You shouldn't have come. It's a..." He never got to finish his sentence and afterwards Sora couldn't remember what hit her...

The two man slowly came into view. One of them was tall and muscular with long black hair. A sharp knife hang at his leather belt. "Who are you and want to you want?" he said in a threatening voice, eying the two children and the unfamiliar creatures suspiciously. "Why? Is it a crime now to be here?" Kari answered sarcastically. Izzy signaled for Tentomon to be ready. "Anyways, you of all people would be the last to tell us something like that", Kari continued.

The other one growled angrily. He was a bit smaller than his companion with short blonde hair, Izzy spotted a gun under his jacket. "What do you want?" he repeated his companions question. With a tone of pure ice that let him shiver Kari said: "My brother."

That was the clue for him and Izzy held up his Digivice and immediately Tentomon was engulfed in the bright light of a digivolution. "TENTOMON DIGIVOLVE TO... KABUTERIMON!" Whatever the two apparent kidnapers wanted to say it was stuck in their throats as they opened their mouths and closed them a moment later.

"Shoot!" the blonde one finally exclaimed. "They're Digi-destined!" Izzy just want to ironically compliment him how quickly he figured that out but was interrupted by a loud booming voice. "EXACTLY, YOU IDIOTS!" Sora came flying through one of the windows breaking it in the process, followed by Biyomon. Then the building exploded in a huge fireball taking everything with it.

Kari screamed assuming her brothers death and Izzy as well as all the Digimon just stared in shock and horror. Out of the flames a huge figure around the size of ImperialDramons fighter form emerged. It was completely covered in a red robe and had two thick horns sticking out of his head. If you ever would get something near the description of the devil this thing would fit perfectly.

The thing was holding Tai's only minor burnt body in one clawed hand. He was awake and living. Izzy heard Kari gasping and staring in disbelief at the creature holding her brother. "YOU!" she practically screeched. "We sealed you! You can't be here!" Now he was clearly confused. What was this thing? Images flooded through his mind and he remembered something. Daemon! The dark Mega that confronted them as they came back from their journey around the world. From what Kari and the others had told him he was sealed in the world of darkness with no chance to return.

"Quick, Kabuterimon. You have to..." A scream from Tai interrupted him. Daemon has tightened his grip around Tai, choking him. "Oh no. You don't want to hurt your leader, do you?" Kari's cold gaze had changed to an infuriated expression of rage. "What do you want with my brother?" Daemon just laughed. "Actually what I want is already here. I told you, you were fools sending me to Dragomon's ocean. Now I am even stronger than before. The only thing that stands in the way of the darkness are only the bearers of Light, Hope and Kindness. I never was interested in this human you appointed to be your leader. But he was perfect to lure you out!"

"Do you want to say you used us!" That was the black-haired man. Both of them were seemingly shaken up. "Humans are that easy to control." Daemon raised his other hand and shot a stream of fire at the two humans who quickly dived into the water but where consumed by the flames in midair.

The group watched in sheer horror the death of the two men. Still they didn't really felt sorry for them but were more shocked by the brutal power and cruelness Daemon possessed. The giant demon Digimon focused on the Digi-destined and Digimon again. "Anyways, I think it's time for your death." Izzy instinctively stepped between Daemon and Kari in an useless attempt of heroism.

"OXYGEN TORPEDO!" Daemon was taken by surprise and Submarimons attack hit the claw holding Tai letting him loose his grip through the impact. Kabuterimon and Gatomon reacted quickly. A pink light engulfed Gatomon. "GATOMON DIGIVOLVE TO... ANGEWOMON!"

"ELECTRO SHOCKER!" The electric shot exploded right in Daemons face blinding him for the moment while Angewomon caught the falling Tai and landing next to Kari and Izzy. Now Daemon was the infuriated one. "For this you will die!"

Chapter 6: Supreme Digivolution - Feelings revealed

Sora awoke from a voice calling her name. Slowly her vision cleared and at the same time a sharp pain shot through her body. Finally her eyes focused on the concerned face of her Digimon. Then she spotted the huge creature in the background and shot into an upright position. The action only caused her body to scream at her in even more pain.

"Oww..." she muttered and continued to stare at the scene in front of her. She immediately recognized the large Demon Digimon from their first encounter. Angewomon, MegaKabuterimon and Digmon were desperately trying to fight it - with no obvious success. A couple of feet away she noticed the others kneeling by the limp figure of Tai and watching the "fight" worried.

Despite her pain and Biyomons protests Sora pushed herself off the ground. "Help them, Biyomon. I'm okay" she assured her and hold up her digivice. Biyomon gave her a dubious look but nodded.

"CELESTIAL ARROW!"

"HORN BUSTER!"

"GOLD RUSH!"

There were no visible signs that the attacks had at least scratched Daemon. He just stood there and laughed at the efforts of their Digimon. Kari was at her brothers side while Izzy looked for his wounds. "It's not that bad, they shouldn't even leave scars in a few days", Izzy explained then looked up as Digmon crashed into a wall and de-digivolved. Cody, the only one really "participating" in the fight, rushed over to his fallen companion. "Assuming that we get out alive of this", Izzy finished and flinched visibly as MegaKabuterimon took a hard blow and crashed to the ground near them digivolving back to Tentomon.

"WING BLADE!" Daemon was momentarily distracted when Garudamons attack connected with his back. Angewomon followed straight with a Heaven's Charm, again with not much effect. "CHAOS FLARE!" shouted Daemon and struck her Digimon with a pitch black flame that threatened to burn her. She reverted back to Gatomon and rolled over the ground to suffocate the flames.

"We have to get out of here", came Sora's voice from behind her. She stumbled over to them and collapsed. "And how to you assume we do that? Our Digimon are to weak to digivolve and..." Kari started. There was another loud crash as one of Garudamon's attacks connected with a fireball from Daemon, the impact throwing the giant bird of balance. "We can't run now. Even if we get away do you want Daemon running havoc in this world?" Izzy stated.

Garudamon ducked under another attack. "But..." Tai gritted his teeth and interrupted Sora. "He's right. That has to end here. Agumon? You ready?" The small dino nodded. Tai's digivice began to glow. "AGUMON WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO... WARGREYMON!" With tremendous speed WarGreymon launched himself at Daemon transforming into a tornado. "MEGA CLAW!"

Daemon just laughed and the group watched with shock as WarGreymon bounced harmlessly of off Daemons robe. "How is that possible?" shouted Izzy frustrated. "CHAOS FLARE!"

"TERRA FORCE!" The two attacks collided in midair and sent dust and energy waves everywhere. "This is pathetic. I'm tired of this game!" He totally ignored the two Digimon attacking him and focused on the kids at the ground. "Child of Light, you are the first one to die and the others will follow you shortly! EVIL INFERNO!"

That was it. She would die. There was no way she could survive that raging inferno of fire and her brother, friends and Digimon would die in the process as well. Daemon had succeeded in his actions and soon the world would fall to him. Kari just wished the others would somehow survive and stop him but she had little hope for that. This Digimon was almost invincible.

Kari felt a protective arm around her and looked up to see Izzy. "It seems that we have no more time for exploring what could have been..." Tears welled up in her eyes, she barely noticed the flames coming closer, threatening to engulf them like the men before. In these last moments all became so clear and finally she was able to understand what she really felt for Izzy. There was no sign of TK or Davis on her mind. She had assumed that during her last moments she would think at least of TK but that wasn't the case.

"I love you", she whispered. And that was the truth. She remembered his care for her, not only in the last days but at various moments of her life before as well. And Kari knew now why she was touched by his sincere but not to forward concern. She had simply fallen in love with the young genius.

"And I do love you." There was no surprise in her face. She knew he did. Not through his words a few minutes ago but all his actions in the past. Izzy was always the shy type, so it didn't surprised her that he had kept quiet.Now it was so clear to her but now... it was too late.

The flames reached them. Kari closed her eyes and so did the others. She awaited the pain... It didn't come. Instead she felt a warmth inside that was anything she had experienced before - and that was a lot. Somehow she felt more powerful and a serene and comforting energy supporting her own light. Then it hit her. Kari had experienced something like that before. At the time when she and Yolei had their first DNA Digivolution. But this time it was not Yolei's love she felt. It was... Izzy's knowledge and at the same time she felt his love for her too.

Slowly she opened her eyes. A pulsating dome of swirling purple and violet energy had formed right over them. The flames slammed effortlessly against it. Finally she looked down and saw hers and Izzy's Digivice both glowing in bright colors that began to merge into one (the colors). Kari heard a gasp and looked up, noticing Izzy looking down on their Digivices.

The dome broke when the purple and violet glows of their Digivices merged into one, twin bolts of light shot out of them and engulfed Gatomon and Tentomon lifting them high in the air. "What..." began Tai. "... is happening?" finished Sora. Cody just watched from his position already guessing what was happening.

"GATOMON..."

"TENTOMON..."

"DNA WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO..."

"SCARABAEUSMON!"

--- Digi Analyzer ---

Scarabaeusmon

Level: Mega

Group: Holy Warrior Digimon

Type: Vaccine

Attack: Star Sword

Curse of the Pharaoh

--- Digi Analyzer ---

All - Digi-destined, Digimon as well as Daeamon - stared in awe (and fear) at the giant and massive new Digimon before them. It was human-shaped with a armor resembling that of MegaKabuterimons and a golden metallic vest covering his chest. Large crystal clear wings with violet and purple markings spread from it's back more like the wings of the mythical Pegasus than those of an angel. It had a human head with a helmet similar to that of MagnaAngemon. In its right hand it hold a sword out of pure energy pulsating in the same colors than the dome before. The left hand was a giant metallic claw looking extremely dreadful.

"Wow", Tai said gasping. Kari and Izzy just glanced at each other. They needed no words because their minds were almost one. That must be something like WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's Jogress Digivolution! Izzy thought. You think it can beat Daemon? Kari asked not really unsure. Absolutely.

In the meantime Scarabaeusmon advanced on Daemon, who actually jerked backwards a little. WarGreymon and Garudamon immediately were at its left and right side. They wasted no time and unleashed their attacks.

"CURSE OF THE PHARAOH!"

"TERRA FORCE!"

"WING BLADE!"

All three attacks - Scarabaeusmon's attack was a big sphere of colorful energy - slammed with an unbelievable impact into the demon sending him stumbling and finally to his knees. "YOU ALL MUST HELP NOW!" Scarabaeusmon's mixed voice boomed over the place. Without asking Kari and Izzy lifted their Digivices, hands still joined. Tai and Sora supported each other and stood up. Cody followed their lead and held up his Digivice. Five bolts of digital energy shot directly into Scarabaeusmon's sword. At the same time WarGreymon and Garudamon threw their attacks and they were absorbed into the sword as well. Finally Scarabaeusmon brought his sword in a graceful motion in front of its body and charged.

"STAR SWORD!" Scarabaeusmon's movement was more a blur to them when it collided with Daemon. The pure energy sliced through Daemon like he was nothing. Daemon screeched an inhuman sound and then exploded in a vortex of darkness that stayed in the air for a few seconds and then disintegrated into nothing. There was a flash of light and the victorious Digimon de-digivolved revealing a very tired Nyaromon and Motimon.

The whole place was literally soundless for a few moments. "Yes! We won!" Tai exclaimed finally but immediately coughed as the pain of his injuries surfaced once again. Kari looked at Izzy, their link was still active. You meant what you said?

Every word. That was all Kari needed to hear. Happily she wrapped her arms around Izzy's neck and kissed him not caring about the others. This time Izzy didn't broke the kiss. He just gave in to the sensation of love, passion and joined souls. They both knew it was right and they both knew that was what they had searched for a long time.

Epilogue

Kari and Izzy sat on Kari's bed in silence. Like before no words were needed; not spoken and not through their still remaining mind link. Both of them enjoyed the presence of the other one while thinking on their own how such a single and emotional accident had changed their lives completely. Izzy was somewhat scared of his own thoughts. He was absolutely sure Kari and him were meant to be together and such thinking at such a young age was indeed scary. But a good side of scary he thought and smiled down at the girl in his arms.

Kari on the other hand had similar thoughts. She knew that there would be a lot of explaining afterwards. She was aware that a lot of boys were attracted to her and there would be a lot of jealousy. Still Izzy was her soul mate. It had became clear in the moment their powers had joined. Kari always believed in such things like fate and destiny, it lay in her nature, her powers. Never before she had felt real love in that form. Sure there was a time she really cared for TK and still did. But now she realized that this love was more the one for a brother. Davis was a nice guy and he had really changed to the better throughout the last crisis. Still he never really was her type. Izzy was right for her, she knew that. His calm personality had stabilized her sometimes uncontrollable light in a way not even Yoleis love and sincerity had done.

Izzy reading her thoughts once again lifted her chin and this time he was the one initiating the kiss. I love you they send telepathically at the same time and there were no further doubts.

Sora smiled warmly while looking at the door of Kari's room. Tai caught her smile and nodded. "Yeah... I never saw her that happy before", he said. At this Sora remembered the last days. "She was an emotional wrack in the last days. I think it was Izzy alone who managed to get through to her." Tai nodded, obviously satisfied with the development.

"I was concerned too, you know..." That was an understatement. Sora had been scared to hell, fearing the worst for Tai. The whole situation had made her thinking. In the last couple of months she an Matt had become closer. They had even gone out two or three times. Why she couldn't tell - no, she denied the truth a long time. Sora had felt lonely and somehow rejected by Tai. All this time she had waited for him to ask her out or something but nothing came. At some point even her patience was broken.

Looking back now she knew that it was foolish to believe Tai wasn't interested in her. Probably he was just scared and unsure, the highest courage can't help a person in love. She knew that exactly and if it came to girls Tai could be just a shy guy like any other. Sora realized now it was her fault as well, her fault for not expressing her feelings freely.

"See, Sora", Tai interrupted the silence. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being such a pain in the last weeks. I think I was just jealous of Matt..." Stupid, Tai. Too damn noble to say something. He had even pushed her to overcome her own fear of advancing on Matt. And when his jealousy finally surfaced it was expressed in silent ignorance...

Sora just couldn't take it anymore. Silencing him she capture his lips with hers and ended any further discussions with that.

And so the whole crisis left two very happy couples. They had found themselves throughout a time of great fear and the bond they were sharing now was one of great trust and love. Today there were two new and happy couples in Odaiba. Two couples of soul mates.

THE END

Author's Notes

Well, that was my first ever English fanfiction. I enjoyed writing it and really think all that reading was good for something. Maybe language lessons should be based on fanfic reading... I should better not tell this my old teachers.

Ok, there is one thing that needs an explanation. Scarabaeusmon. First of all the name origin comes from the Latin word Scarabaeus that means "Scarab" in English. Scarabs are the little bugs. In the Egyptian mythology these are holy creatures. I suggest looking it up in a book or in a search engine.

The idea for a DNA warp-digivolution is not especially developed for this fic. I am working on a huge Anime/Reality-Crossover (gomen, German only) and the idea of Jogress Megas were originally designed for this fic series and it started with Scarabaeusmon (I got the name from one of my German contacts).

That is everything so far I think. Special thanks to Essi-chan for beta-reading this fic. Emails, constructive positive/negative criticism, proposals, death judgments and similar things to [Solarsenshi@gmx.de][2]. Flames will be sliced by Scarabaeusmons sword.

Thank you all for reading this tiny (for me it is) little fic.

Ja ne, yours

Matthias

   [1]: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kari_and_Izzy_Fans_Unite
   [2]: mailto:Solarsenshi@gmx.de



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